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Retired dentist John Niven and his ‘practice manager’ wife Helen, a former staff member of then-North Coast Area Health Service are back in action, producing a new calendar about the fabled yet desperately poor nation of Nepal and preparing to take another trip there.

Unlike most foreign visitors, the Nivens will not be joy-walking in the Himalayan mountains, let alone tackling its snow-capped peaks. Nor is it their aim to savour the fascinating mix of Buddhist, Hindu and Tibetan cultures, although their cameras will be kept at the ready.

Instead they will return with suitcases stuffed with dental supplies on a self-appointed mission to bring oral health care to rural dwellers seldom able to access treatment.

Australian Government’s new Issues Paper examines the roles and responsibilities of federal and state governments in the provision of Australian healthcare.

A newly-released federal government ‘Issues Paper’ on the provision of healthcare in Australia concludes that, “Currently, our health care arrangements do not work well for Australians with complex and chronic conditions, such as diabetes, cancer and mental illness,” attributing this to the lack of “a single overarching ‘health system’ in Australia to provide this care.”

Long-serving Woodburn GP Dr Chanchal Marik will spend his last working day at his surgery just before Christmas. After serving the local community for 35 years and spending many months trying unsuccessfully to sell his practice, he feels there is no other option than closing the doors, an act he will undertake with sadness.

Comments in the interim report released this month are tuned to the nation’s current health debate: “Since coming to power the Abbott Government has repeatedly called into question the sustainability of Medicare … The evidence given to this committee and documented in this report reveals the fallacy of such claims, particularly with regard to GPs and the Medicare Benefits Scheme.”

The importance of physical activity as part of a heart failure treatment plan is well recognised. In the 2011 Update to the National Heart Foundation of Australia and Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Guidelines for the prevention, detection and management of chronic heart failure in Australia, it remained a Grade A recommendation.